Shocking photos have emerged of dozens of bored Sydney train workers left with nothing to do, milling about the train station and sitting in the depot, after the city’s entire rail network was shut down.
Men and women in orange high-vis vests sat staring at their phones after the Rail Tram and Bus Union claimed they were ‘locked out’ despite agreeing to work.
Other workers were pictured on a desolate platform at Lithgow in Greater Sydney as millions of commuters battled to get to work and school on time on Monday.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has slammed the shutdown as a ‘concerted campaign’ and insisted the unions are to blame for the city-wide delays.
Shocking photos have emerged of dozens of bored Sydney train workers left with nothing to do, milling about the train station and sitting in the depot after a city-wide shutdown
Men and women in orange high-vis vests sat around on their phones as negotiations continued before the Fair Work Commission on Monday morning (pictured)
The premier said he was advised by Sydney Trains the network timetable could not be altered in a way that was safe for commuters on Monday.
Mr Perrottet said unions took ‘a different approach’ to the agreement reached last weekend and insisted the decision had been made with intent to cause chaos’.
The city-wide shutdown has caused a gridlock as long as 22km on the M2 motorway and huge lines of traffic along Victoria Road, the M5 and Hume Highway.
The cancellations came on the day Australia’s international borders finally opened and work from home was ditched in NSW with employees told they could return to the office at their bosses’ discretion.
Other train workers were pictured on a desolate platform at Lithgow in Greater Sydney as millions of commuters battled to get to work and school on time on Monday
The city-wide shutdown has caused a gridlock as long as 22km on the M2 motorway and huge lines of traffic along Victoria Road, the M5 and Hume Highway
Schools are reportedly being closed because teachers are unable to get to work with no trains and huge delays due to traffic.
The shutdown is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between the NSW Government and the Rail Tram and Bus Union over safety guarantees, hygiene, wages, and privatisation concerns.
The two sides are blaming each other for the shutdown with NSW Transport Minister David Elliott accusing the union of ‘hijacking the city’ and the union arguing the government of ‘locking workers’ out after they agreed to work.
Back-to-back traffic crippled Victoria Road as train services were shut down on Monday
The two sides are blaming each other for the shutdown with NSW Transport Minister David Elliott accusing the union of ‘hijacking the city’ and the union arguing the government of ‘locking workers’ out after they agreed to work
A graphic depiction of bumper to bumper traffic along Victoria Road and the M2, stationed trains at Clyde Train Depot, a shuttered Town Hall, and commuters left stranded in Parramatta
Transport for NSW announced the sudden train closure at 5am on its social media, and before that in a 1.38am email to staff.
‘Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink intercity services are not running today due to industrial action,’ it wrote online.
‘Please avoid travel wherever possible, use alternative modes of transport and allow extra travel time on other modes of transport.
‘This was a difficult decision to make, but we cannot and will not compromise on safety. We apologise to customers for what is clearly an unacceptable course of action.’
Transport bosses attempted to blame the union for the sudden rail shutdown, but it was Transport for NSW’s decision to shut the network down.
Transport minister Mr Elliott told Ben Fordham he was ‘furious’ the union would blame the government.
‘I have been negotiating with unions for 20 years and I haven’t seen this sort of behaviour for quite some time,’ he said.
‘Why the hell would I want a strike to occur the day universities are going back?
‘They cannot use the city’s transport system for some sort of terrorist-like activity.’
Workers never planned to strike and were all going to show up to work under comparatively minor bans on rostering flexibility.
However, Transport for NSW secretary Rob Sharp at 1.38am sent an email suddenly cancelling all services in what rail workers called a ‘dummy spit’.
Rail replacement buses have not been organised due to the last-minute nature of the shutdown, with commuters urged to find alternative transport.
This was after the state government encouraged staff to get back into the office for the first time since the Omicron wave.
Rail, Tram, and Bus Union secretary Alex Claassens said Sydney Trains locked workers out of the train network despite them being ready to work.
‘For the government to use this as a bulls**t excuse is a new low. They are the ones that are doing all of this,’ he said.
Millions of Sydney commuters will wake up this morning to find they have no way to get to work after all trains were suddenly cancelled
Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed up his Coalition partners in NSW by attacking the ‘disrespectful’ union for inconveniencing commuters
Roads are choked with traffic as Sydneysiders jumped into their cars with little other way to get to work, with gridlock as long as 22km on the M2 motorway
‘The ball is in their court, our members are ready to go to work. As soon as the government decides they want to run trains, we can run them.
‘It’s Transport for NSW and the government’s call to shut down the network. I went to bed last night expecting trains to be running this morning. It’s very disappointing.’
Mr Claasens held back tears at his press conference on Monday morning as he revealed the shutdown was a very personal matter.
‘Yesterday was also a very important day for me, because it was two years ago a friend of mine died in a train accident,’ he said.
The veteran union leader paused for a moment to hold back his tears and regather his composure.
‘For me to have to go through all this rubbish and stand here and justify why we’re taking protective industrial action, which we’re allowed to do legally under the law. We have done everything by the book.’
Mr Claassens said the ‘altered work ban’ the union planned to implement would only have caused delays if Sydney Trains failed to adapt to it.
‘Workers will be taking protected industrial action, but only transport management will notice the impact, not commuters,’ he said.
Speaking to media on Monday, RTBU branch secretary Alex Claasens held back tears as he revealed the shutdown was a very personal matter
Town Hall has been barricaded as train services are crippled by widespread cancellations in Sydney
Commuters have directed their rage at the NSW government and blamed them for the transport chaos
‘If commuters see any impact to their services, it won’t be because of workers’ actions, but because the NSW Government is spitting the dummy and trying to make a point.’
Mr Claassens said union members would be at work ready to go as soon as management and the government let them.
‘All members will be at work, ready to work. They will be ready and waiting to crew the trains. There is no impediment, only stubbornness on behalf of the NSW Government,’ he said.
‘The actions being taken are designed to make life hard for transport management, not commuters.
‘There’s no strike – workers are simply performing the shifts we’re set without any changes.’
The NSW Government took the issue to the Fair Work Commission on Sunday night trying to cancel the industrial action, after spending another $500,000 in legal fees on conciliation meetings with the union on Saturday.
Trains were due to go ahead but with significant delays after a series of court actions over the weekend as the union, management, and the NSW Government squabbled over details of long-running industrial action.
Outraged commuters have taken to social media to vent their frustration over having to catch several buses because of the train service shutdown
Trains were due to go ahead but with significant delays after a series of court actions over the weekend as the union, management, and the NSW Government squabbled over details of long-running industrial action
A closed sign is set up outside the turnstiles at a train station in Sydney with commuters forced to make last minute travel alternatives to get to work
Mr Sharp, a former Virgin Australia boss, claimed the industrial action the union planned for the next two weeks would compromise safety.
‘These impacts result in hundreds and thousands of customers being left stranded, unable to get to work, school and where they need to be,’ he wrote.
‘We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact on commuters and sincerely apologise to people inconvenienced by this industrial action.’
Transport Minister David Elliot, whose office was responsible for shutting down the trains, tried to blame the union for the debacle.
‘This is the most un-Australian act I’ve ever heard of,’ he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed up his Coalition partners in NSW by attacking the ‘disrespectful’ union for inconveniencing commuters.
‘There are people this morning who are going to have an overpriced Uber, or they’re not going to be able to get to work,’ he said on 2GB radio.
‘This is just not how you behave and this is not how you treat your fellow citizens.
‘This is not how this should be done, and I feel for all of those Sydneysiders today who are affected by this strike.
‘The disrespect being shown to their fellow Sydneysiders today who are going about their day, kids trying to get to school, parents getting their week underway… all having to deal with the unions carrying on like this in the middle of the night to cause such a terrible disruption.’
A huge queue of cars on Sydney’s M2 as commuters took to the roads following the train service shutdown
A sign at Town Hall Station informing commuters the train station is closed and advising then to use ‘alternative modes of transport’
Mr Morrison said the first international visitors to Australia in two years were being greeted with no trains at Australia’s biggest gateway.
‘This is an important day that Australians have looked forward to,’ he said.
‘The union movement has decided to really pull the rug out from under that on our first day back.’
Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope claimed the train network couldn’t operate safely as a result of the union bans.
‘They won’t work their rostered shifts, or overtime, signallers won’t work to the roster, noticed won’t be delivered to change timetables, the train system would be in chaos,’ he said.
‘It’s effectively saying to commuters of Sydney that ‘we don’t care about your convenience, your business, you taking the kids to school, doctors and nurses trying to get to work.
‘It’s using commuters of Sydney as pawns to achieve a political outcome, we’ll be back before the Fair Work Commission to get this resolved.
‘This is industrial bastardry at it’s finest.’
Commuters wait for buses with no trains to jump on to on their way to work
The union, transport authorities, and the state government have been at each others throats for months over a new enterprise agreement, with 30 meetings in the past six months alone.
Workers want better safety and hygiene standards and improved pay and conditions and successive negotiations have failed.
The union planned a ban on overtime and various flexible rostering conditions that make the network better able to respond to last-minute changes.
Both parties met on Saturday for a conciliation meeting to hammer out a short-term compromise, with transport and the government reportedly bringing a team of 10 lawyers estimated to have cost taxpayers $500,000.
They agreed to a compromise where the union would drop its overtime ban in exchange for Sydney Trains and the government dropping its plan to force the enterprise agreement to be arbitrated by the FWC.
Union bosses claim if the agreement was decided by the FWC it would side with the government and Sydney Trains because it was stacked with anti-union judges.
The union stressed that if there was a major incident or safety issue, workers would scramble to clear any risk even if it went against the industrial action.
‘If there is a genuine safety risk on the railway, we will always ensure the safety of all workers and the public,’ the union said on Sunday.
Train schedule board shows there are no services running at all from that, or any other, station
Then on Sunday night, both sides accused each other of reneging on the deal and Crown solicitors took the union to court to cancel the industrial action.
The government failed and the union resolved to continue with its plans with huge delays expected across the network.
‘The NSW Government today used anti-union laws to try and shut down our members’ right to take industrial action,’ the union said.
‘If the last few days have taught us anything, it’s that we have a government that is willing to try anything to screw us over, no matter what the cost to taxpayers.
‘We need to, and we will, stand together to beat this heartless and mortally bankrupt government. Our anger is palpable.’
Both parties will appear before the Fair Work Commission at 9am to thrash out the issue.
